No Such Thing As A Beautiful Goodbye
by therentyoupay
Summary: ONE-SHOT. They've only one night left to live. Many pairings & lots of angst.


**AN:** Written for the 1sentence challenge over at Livejournal (the Epsilon set), though not posted to the community because it's not one particular pairing; it's generally more of a situation as a whole with a bunch of pairings (both requited and one-sided) thrown in.

Also inspired by this prompt from deathyukata:

_12. Eat. Drink and be merry, for tomorrow you shall die._

UHM.LINE BREAK RIGHT HERE BECAUSE IS NOT LETTING US USE ANYTHING FOR THIS, YAY.

**#01 – Motion  
**Zuko supposes that beginning of the end has to start somehow; he just wishes that they didn't curtail its arrival.

**#02 – Cool  
**Katara thinks that she will miss the feel of the water slipping through her fingers.

**#03 – Young  
**It's said that it's so tragic for death to come to those so young, but they stopped seeing themselves as children long ago.

**#04 – Last  
**What would one do with one last day to live, Katara wonders one night while looking at the stars with her brother, not knowing that she'd have to decide on the eve of the arrival of Souzen's comet.

**#05 – Wrong  
**"I should never have --" Zuko starts, but Katara cuts him off, "it's okay."

**#06 – Gentle  
**There was no easy way to say what was going to happen to them, so they preferred not to speak of it at all.

**#07 – One  
**_No one should have to be alone tonight_, Aang thinks, _even if we're not with the ones that we're supposed to be with_.

**#08 – Thousand  
**"There are millions of people in this world counting on me and I've failed them," he says; he knows that if anyone had been listening, they wouldn't have been able to honestly disagree.

**#09 – King  
**Katara smiles at him and he knows that they would have made great leaders, always at each other's sides.

**#10 – Learn  
**Toph wishes that she could've learned to read.

**#11 – Blur  
**Sokka looks at the moon, as he often does, and can almost see Yue's tears (she knows that he'll be joining her soon; he can practically hear her voice, _"I became this so you and the rest of the world would have a chance to _live_"_).

**#12 – Wait  
**Zuko's heard stories – stories of prisoners before their executions, stories of criminals awaiting their sentence, stories of men waiting for the answer to a marriage proposal – all of which left those affected by it with such an inexplicable feeling of dread and suspense all at once that their insides were in complete and utter turmoil; the stories held no comparison to _this_.

**#13 – Change  
**All it takes for Smellerbee to realize why Jet suddenly wants to do good is one look at the way his gaze follows Katara (she wonders why his eyes never followed _her _like that and decides that she'll never have the chance to find out).

**#14 – Command  
**They trust him and will follow him until the very end, Aang knows, but he also knows that they won't make it.

**#15 – Hold  
**Toph wishes that it could have been _her _in water tribe boy's arms that night, but reminds herself that she has promised to stop wishing when she was very young.

**#16 – Need  
**"You have to forget, it's the only way you'll survive tonight," he tells her, his scar hidden in the shadows, but she's positive that what he's asking of her (and himself) is impossible.

**#17 – Vision  
**Toph doesn't need sight to see the looks on everyone's faces (faces of false smiles that don't reach their eyes) to know that they're all lying for the sake of something that no one is quite certain about.

**#18 – Attention  
**Suki had often worried what caused Sokka to be so sensitive about the subject of the moon, but doesn't dare think about the subject now.

**#19 – Soul  
**Aang wonders if, in a different lifetime, Katara's spirit might love him back.

**#20 – Picture  
**Sokka glances around the campfire, taking in the happy faces of false pretenses and the unspoken comprehension that by tomorrow evening, they'll all be gone (slashed or burned or left to suffer, it doesn't matter) and captures it in his memory (knowing full well that he doesn't have much more time to remember).

**#21 – Fool  
**Chong takes off his flowers and gently lays them in the fire; he hadn't the strength to sing as the petals turned to cinders.

**#22 – Mad  
**_If we reach insanity_, Longshot thinks, _the least it could do is give us bliss_.

**#23 – Child  
**Xin Fu looks at Toph and tells her that her father would have been proud.

**#24 – Now  
**"I used to believe that I had reason to hope, but I suppose I never had very good judgment," Song says and with a small smile, she continues, "after all, I really did like you, you know,"; Zuko turns to look at her and she laughs quietly.

**#25 – Shadow  
**Later, they spend their last night together lying in the dark (just lying in each other's arms since they can't and won't manage to get to sleep) because Sokka can't bear to be near the moonlight and Suki doesn't want to ruin their last moments by questioning him (and besides, she supposes that it doesn't really matter anymore anyway).

**#26 - Goodbye  
**They were said in small touches, short glances, shining eyes and fallen tears, but never spoken.

**#27 – Hide  
**"I used to practice my bending when I thought no one was watching," Haru says with a reminiscent smile and wonders how strong he might have been if he'd been free to train as much as he wanted to.

**#28 – Fortune  
**"You can't deem your life unworthy because what you've done is what you think of as failure -- you can only measure your life by the love that entered it," Aunt Wu whispered to the Avatar (a mere boy who was lost and confused and afraid); Aunt Wu knew that love he had encountered in this lifetime would probably never be matched in any other, even without using her power of sight.

**#29 – Safe  
**"Safety will only come with death," the whisper stretches out over the silence; they know it's true, but can't help but wish that it hadn't been said.

**#30 – Ghost  
**Sokka knows a thing or two about losing hope; Sokka knows through tears and pain and grief that hope never brought her back and that hope wasn't going to save them now.

**#31 – Book  
**Meng was given small games, paper on which to draw, ink to write with, things to try to preoccupy her thoughts with other matters, but needless to say, the plan didn't work.

**#32 – Eye  
**"What can you possibly see in him?" Jet asks, his whisper filled with disbelief (rage, betrayal, jealousy, it was all the same thing), but Katara knows that even if she did have the patience to explain it to him, he wouldn't understand.

**#33 – Never  
**"I'm afraid of not remembering you," Katara says with a sad smile and Aang replies, "I could never forget you," but can't help but feel terrified.

**#34 – Sing  
**Even Sokka doesn't mind when Chong and Lily start to play; he welcomes the distraction.

**#35 – Sudden  
**"I'm sorry," Aang says abruptly and rushes into the trees, leaving Katara stunned and confused and her lips tingling from the contact.

**#36 – Stop  
**"I can't stand this anymore – why aren't we still fighting? Why have we given up?" Suki asks as tears fall to the floor and Sokka can't bear to tell her what she already knows.

**#37 – Time  
**For his last night on Earth, Sokka thinks that it was definitely the longest; such is the way when all you have to do is wait for it to end.

**#38 - Wash  
**"I remember when we decided that it was futile to try to get the bloodstains out of our clothes," Katara somehow manages to laugh; Zuko looks at her with worry in his eyes.

**#39 – Torn  
**Katara knows that she won't have another chance to be with her brother again, but knows what she will be losing if she decides to spend the night in her brother's presence instead of the arms of the one she loves.

**#40 – History  
**They sit on the side of the lake, Iroh, Aunt Wu and Fung, and are afraid to know what stories the children of the future will hear (and the ones that they'll never get to know).

#41 – Power  
"I still can't protect the ones I love," Sokka tells the moon and prays that she's forgiven him.

**#42 – Bother  
**"Could you read my fortune just one last time?" the waterbender girl whispers shakily; Aunt Wu can't refuse the girl's request, though both of them are already very well aware of what lies in store for all of them.

**#43 – God  
**"I sure as hell never got any help from one," Jet says and throws something into the fire.

**#44 – Wall  
**There was nothing holding them there, nothing keeping them from running, but there was no point; they were still trapped.

**#45 – Naked  
**He decides that _this_ was the only time he didn't mind feeling vulnerable.

**#46 – Drive  
**"Do you know how long I've wanted you?" he asks in a breathless whisper and Katara kisses him because she's wanted him for much longer.

**#47 – Harm  
**Aang and Toph turn to one another, both because they seem to have no one else left and because they aren't unfamiliar with rejection.

**#48 – Precious  
**As the comet blazes above, Toph swears she can see the sky.

**#49 – Hunger  
**Zuko continues to scream and reach for her as the soldiers drag her body away until he can no longer feel the flames licking away at his skin; the third time he sees this scene, it's not a dream.

**#50 – Believe  
**"Next time will be different," Aang whispers and closes his eyes for the last time.


End file.
